Bank channel

For the last few years M&A has been marked by buyers' pursuit of loans, but as banks plot the near future, the focus is now on finding deposits to serve as dry powder for the next few years.

In the fourth quarter, the Birmingham, Ala.-based bank generated $48 million in investment management and trust fee income, down $2 million, or 4%, from the previous quarter. Revenue from investment services also fell, dropping 20% to $8 million.

M&T's sidelined purchase of Hudson City has become cautionary tale in a new regulatory environment for acquisitions.

The bank’s wealth and investment services generated $9.9 million in revenue, up 23.4% from the previous quarter and up 27.1% year-over-year. The increase was driven primarily by the bank’s brokerage unit.

Bank of New York Mellon Corp., the world’s largest custody bank, said fourth-quarter earnings fell 18% because of a loss related to an equity investment.

Perhaps the greatest challenge banks face these days is somehow balancing the desire to grow with the very real need to reduce overhead.

Regulators' attempt to carve out an exemption for small banks from a key part of the Volcker Rule satisfied most institutions that feared getting swallowed up in the Dodd-Frank Act provision, but left others still vulnerable to the regulation and facing significant losses.

Buyers of life insurance still prefer a personal touch, a fact that should cheer advisors at banks and credit unions.

Regions Financial is discontinuing its controversial short-term consumer loan product, the company announced Wednesday.

The firm hired sales directors and other professionals in Chicago, Las Vegas, Boston and Madison, N.J., and opened an office in San Diego.

Senate Democrats' decision to change filibuster rules has shifted the composition of a powerful federal appeals court, a move that could bolster the banking agencies against future industry challenges to the Dodd-Frank Act.

Federal regulators released an interim final regulation late Tuesday designed to fix a problem with the Volcker Rule that would have caused hundreds of banks to take writedowns on certain assets.

In addition to relieving the shortage of advisors, junior brokers increase an investment program's advisor productivity, boost program revenue and fatten profits.

Wells Fargo, the largest U.S. home lender, reported a 24% rise in fourth-quarter earnings as the bank extended more credit. The shares slipped as margins narrowed and mortgage applications waned.

JPMorgan Chase's quarterly profit fell 7.3% on $2.6 billion of settlements tied to Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme as rising legal costs ended the firm’s three-year streak of record annual earnings.

Banks could save money -- and avoid having to sell to, or buy other, banks -- by sharing the costs of compliance checks, account databases and even branch space, a new report from the accounting firm EY suggests.

UBS AG, Switzerland's largest bank, expects to boost client assets in the U.K. this year even as Swiss competitors try to break into London's $1.2 trillion private wealth market to help counter withdrawals at home.

If your clients run into one of these guys, they just may leave you to make the change to fee-based.

UBS AG Chief Executive Officer Sergio Ermotti denied speculation that Switzerland's biggest bank will spin off its investment-banking business to meet regulators' demands for holding more capital.

In the bank channel, fee-based business is the Woodstock of strategies--everyone says they're doing it, but few really are.